It took some shuffling around, but, ultimately, here it is. The one that started it all, right where we found it last year, at spot #4. And this truly was the one that started it all. Did any of us have any idea what was happening? Maybe people older than me, who were aware of studio plans and Hollywood rumors knew; but I sure didn’t. I was just a high-schooler at the time of Iron Man‘s release. I didn’t know much about Iron Man going in, but, boy, was I obsessed when I was going out. And that little Avengers plug at the end, after the credits? Was that supposed to be serious?
Category Archives: Reviews
#3: Captain America: Civil War
This year’s mammoth addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was far better than last year’s. As a matter of fact, it was far better than most any other film, show, or short that Marvel has ever put out. What could have been a complete and utter failure turned out to be a superhero masterwork, a true contender for the title “best superhero movie ever”, and a lasting and influential contributor to a universe of films that has turned the entire world on its head.
#2: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Is there any question now that the Captain America Trilogy is the best comic book movie franchise of all time? I don’t think that there is. Not only has it dominated the most complex expanded universe in film history, but it has gone three-for-three (a heretofore unaccomplished feat) with all of its movies standing among the best superhero movies ever made.
#1: The Avengers (2012)
It all came down to this: the true culmination of years’ worth of fan-boy fantasies that few ever thought would work. The last movie that tried to squeeze multiple characters into its story was Spider-man 3, a movie that received terrible reviews as well as universal disgust from die-hard fans. Would this attempt at an even bigger collaboration fall flat on its face, too, unable to hold itself up under the crushing weight of the Incredible Hulk and Thor’s Hammer? A lot of people were nervous, even the world’s biggest comic book fans. They didn’t want the movie to fall apart. They didn’t want to be disappointed.
L’Atalante (1934)
“What? You closed your eyes?…Don’t you know you can see your beloved’s face in the water?…It’s true. When I was little, I saw things like that. And last year, I saw your face in the water.”
Could it be that simple, to just open your eyes? Certainly not, but there is certainly something magically simple about love. In all its frustrating complexity, it never deviates from the simple constant of feeling. Continue reading
Detour (1945)
This is the sort of movie that you would never think belongs on a blog like this.
The negatives are flipped, the fog machines corny. The actors are transparent, their characters cliched. The lighting seems artificial, the plot seems incomplete. The whole thing is cheap in its production , even cheap in its quasi-Freudian metaphors. It’s the sort of movie that a high-schooler may come up with in about a week. Continue reading
Laura (1944)
With the close of both the Holiday Season and Awards Season, I move again to my series of reviews on American film noir in the 1940s.
Where Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon have survived into the 21st century with reputations intact as noir classics, Otto Preminger’s masterpiece Laura has been relatively forgotten outside of more expert circles. Continue reading
A Christmas Story (1983)
“Mothers know nothing about creeping marauders burrowing through the snow toward the kitchen where only you and you alone stand between your tiny, huddled family and insensate evil.”
Lines like this one, muttered by narrator Ralphie Parker, who tells the story of his most memorable childhood Christmas, are what give such compassionate life to what many consider the most funny holiday film ever recorded. Continue reading
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
In my family, the holiday season begins with Thanksgiving (or, some years, the day before). Growing up, it meant going to grandma and grandpa’s house in Idaho and cutting down a Christmas tree. The perpetual wafting of sage, thyme, garlic, and rosemary would accompany the two Als (Roker and Michaels), as parades, football, and good family conversation would culminate in the feast of feasts. Continue reading
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Just last week, my wife, two children, and I walked down Main Street in our small town. Such walks—weaving ’round fire hydrants and passerbies with our bulky double stroller on the narrow sidewalks—have become a favorite pastime of ours since moving to this historic hamlet in western Virginia. Continue reading
A Slice of Cake 